1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of controlling power distribution units (PDUs) and, in particular, to a method of remotely managing and controlling PDUs without knowing their IP addresses.
2. Description of Related Art
Power management of information technology (IT) devices is a key to normal and safe operations thereof. To accommodate the power requirement of many IT devices or peripheral devices, a power distribution unit (PDU) is often mounted on racks of the IT devices. Each PDU provides multiple sockets for the connection of multiple IT devices (e.g., servers, routers, firewalls, etc) or peripheral devices (e.g., printers, displays, fax machines, etc) and provides power required by the connected IT or peripheral devices. Each PDU is connected to an uninterruptable power system (UPS) for uninterruptable power supply. Currently, PDUs have many different types, such as the basic type, panel-control type, switching type and intelligent type. The switching and the intelligent PDUs are equipped with a remote on/off function to be powered on or off via a network.
In practice, the PDU can be powered on or off by remote control via a network, thereby turning on or off the power of all the IT or peripheral devices. Even so, there are still inconveniences to remotely control each of the PDUs as far as current technology is concerned.
According to usage requirements, the PDUs are installed at different locations and have different IP addresses. If a user wants to log into a management system to remotely control the PDUs belonging to the user, he or she has to clearly know the IP addresses of the PDUs. However, the user usually does not know the exact IP addresses of the PDUs. This renders the remote management and control extremely inconvenient. If the user owns a lot of PDUs, the problem becomes even more serious.